Secondary Sources: Unbanked, Paperless Office, Bond Villain Economics

–Unbanked Americans:Michael Sivy looks at why so many Americans don’t have bank accounts. “One in nine households is without a checking account. And almost one-third of the population is underbanked – lacking the full range of basic financial services. Going without such services is not only inconvenient but also expensive. Someone who cashes paychecks or benefit checks at a check-cashing service and pays bills with money orders may end up spending more than $500 a year for transactions that would cost no more than $120 at banks that offer basic checking accounts.”

–Paperless Office:Tim Taylor notes that offices are becoming increasingly paperless. “I remember stories from the old days of computerized offices, maybe 15-20 years ago, about executives who wanted all their e-mails and reports printed out. Those days are gone. But it’s interesting to me that even for a change that seems as obvious as electronic communication leading to less paper, it took some years and the pressures of a recession for substantial change to take effect. Similarly, it wasn’t until about 2006 that the volume of mail carried by the U.S. Postal Service took a nosedive. All the consequences of major technological changes can take decades to ripple through an economy. “

–Bondonomics:Bilge Ebiri asks economist Jean-Jacques Dethier which bond villain plots might have worked. (h/t Tyler Cowen who posts his own thoughts here) “Goldfinger — Plot: Gold tycoon Auric Goldfinger’s (Gert Frobe) plan is quite simple: He wants to attack the U.S. Bullion Depository in Fort Knox and detonate an atomic bomb, thus irradiating the gold stored there, rendering it worthless for decades. This will in turn increase the value of Goldfinger’s own gold and cause economic chaos in the Western world. Plausibility: “This looks plausible to me,” says Dethier. “If you irradiate the gold, you can’t touch it — which will effectively reduce the gold supply, at a time when the United States currency was still on the gold standard.” However, there is one potential problem — the vast majority of the gold in the U.S. wasn’t in Fort Knox — it was (and remains) in the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, in downtown Manhattan. (But most of the gold in New York belongs to other nations, so Goldfinger’s evil plan is still fairly solid.)”